Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-13-Speech-1-119"
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"en.20030113.6.1-119"2
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"Mr President, I subscribe to the general comments made by my honourable friends in the Europe People’s Party and shall confine myself to commenting on two criticisms levied against Greece which, because they go too far, undermine the credibility of the report and real fundamental rights.
The first concerns the ban on women pilgrims entering Mount Athos in Greece. This ban has been in place for 1200 years and is enshrined in the Treaty of the European Union and the Greek constitution. It cannot therefore be changed, nor should it, because to do so would be to accept that the home is not inviolable. Mount Athos is home to 5 000 monks and it is their right to receive whomsoever they please in their home, just as it is our right, as simple citizens, to receive and offer hospitality to whomsoever we want in our home and keep out anyone we do not. This is not a tourist area and any women interested in how Orthodox monks live need only visit the hundreds of other monasteries in Greece and other Orthodox countries in order to satisfy their curiosity.
My second comment concerns conscientious objectors. Unfortunately, religious convictions or an aversion to the violence which the army may stand for are used as a pretext by a number of people to avoid military service and while away their days in the civil service at the state’s expense, even though some of them have no hesitation in using violence if it serves their ideological purpose. May I inform you, my honourable friends, that some of the November 17 terrorists who were recently arrested in Greece, whose much-publicised trial is due to start in a few days’ time, and who have so far murdered some 50 foreign diplomats, ministers, politicians, journalists and judges, have stated that they are conscientious objectors and have been exempted from military service, while another conscientious objector serving in a mental institution has been getting his kicks out of torturing the inmates. It is a pity that we always go too far and end up ridiculing fundamental rights."@en1
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